>> no. >> reporter: some guy on a pole. >> who? >> well, this is new york. if you've got a pole, somebody is going to climb it. >> reporter: well tell it to the cops. jeannie moos, cnn. new york. >> that's it for me. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in "the situation room." in north america, "john king usa" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com i'm jessica yellen sitting in for john king. an attack on the intercouldn't knell hotel in afghanistan. attackers including suicide bombers stormed the hotel a few hours ago. late word into cnn is that at least ten people are dead. a coalition spokesperson reports that nato helicopters fired on and killed three of the attackers on the roof top of that hotel.

cnn has confirmed that all the attackers there have been killed. the taliban claimed responsibility for today's hotel attacks sending a message to the united states military and afghan officials that they are still a viable force in afghanistan. the white house says president obama has been briefed on the violence. we are joined on the phone by a journalist who is near the scene. we are not naming her for her own safety. please tell us, what is the very latest there? >> reporter: i'm on the scene now. it appears that the intercontinental hotel is on fire. it's quite a large fire. i just heard another explosion. it's unclear where the explosion came from or what it was. it may indicate that the battle is not over. i continue to hear helicopters over the scene. there are ambulances across the road. it looks like things have deteriorated pretty quickly.

>> can you describe for us the area where this attack happened? >> reporter: the area is actually a quiet area. it is home to afghans that have a long history of resisting the taliban. it has a large square with some shops. the intercontinental is on a hill so it's partially, it's set back from the city. it's still inside kabul proper, but a little bit removed from the center where the ministries and things like this are. >> tell us a little about the security of the hotel. >> reporter: normally there is heavy security at the hotel. numerous check points. not necessarily in your vehicle, but your person where your bag and your body are being checked.

security is very tight at the hotel normally. it's unclear how they were able to breach the security while carrying out the attack. >> finally, we are not naming you for your own safety. what does it feel like on the streets there right now? give us a sense of the mood. >> reporter: it's extremely tense. the security forces are very nervous. they are running at cars, pointing their guns at the drivers of the cars, pulling them out of the vehicle to have them searched. it's very tense. kabul at night is almost never safe, but right now things are extra tense. >> thank you for the report. please stay in touch with us if news develops there further. live for us from kabul. the hotel was supposed to be the site of a news conference tomorrow to discuss the planned transition of security in the country from international firstes to afghan forces. general david petraeus, the jut

going commander of u.s. forces in afghanistan has warned that the taliban would try to stage attacks such as this. let's turn to pentagon correspondent chris lawrence. first, i understand two coalition helicopters attacked the gunmen on the roof of the hotel. what more can you tell us about this? >> that's right. major tim james a spokesman for the coalition forces there in kabul says that two of the coalition helicopters did engage with some of the enemy forces with some of those fighters who stormed the hotel directly on the roof. firing on them, on the roof and killing them on the roof. he also tells us that about 20 afghan soldiers entered that hotel from the ground floor and worked their way up to the hotel from the ground about 20 stories to start to clear the roof and make sure that things were secure there on the roof.

isaf coalition forces called in for an air strike there in the middle of kabul. >> let's talk about the attack itself. is it your sense this is likely a response to the news that president obama, as we know, announced a drawdown of u.s. forces in afghanistan? >> i think sometimes we make those connections much like we say july 4th, al qaeda must be planning an attack because it's our holiday. president obama made an announcement of a drawdown. this must be the taliban response. it's more likely pegged to may when the taliban made their announcement of what they were calling their spring or summer offensive. that they were going to step up their attacks. this is probably the biggest attack on a hotel like this in about three years. the serena hotel which is the primary hotel where a lot of foreigners gather faced a similar attack. this is not the first time the taliban have done this. i was in afghanistan about 1 1/2

years ago when the taliban attacked the united nations guest house. we were just a block or two away when the taliban literally shot the guards dead at the door, scaled the front gate and proceeded to set off grenades and kill about five united nations workers inside that guest house. >> chris lawrence, thanks so much. let's talk about the message taliban are sending here with cnn national security analyst peter bergen. chris lawrence said we shouldn't read too much into this in terms of the timing and this is not a political responsibility to president obama's announcement he is drawing down forces in afghanistan. do you agree? >> i think it is a message about the transfer of responsibility that president karzai announced of seven areas in afghanistan that would go from u.s. nato responsibility to afghan security responsibility. kabul right now is the only place the afghan security force largely control. it's part of this transition in

the drawdown of american troops that's supposed to take over full responsibility for kabul. this is the taliban's way of saying we have a vote here. that's the political message that's been sent. this hotel has been attacked. i've stayed there in the past. one of the reasons it hasn't been attacked in the past, chris mentioned the serena which is downtown is heavily fortified. intercontinental stands on a hill. it's obvious if you're approa approaching it. i think the taliban defaulted from doing another serena attack which they've done in the past to t as the intercontinental because people haven't expected it there. taliban have been able to mount

these attacks on major government buildings, ministry interior, police, ministry of prisons, serena hotel, other hotels. this is not uncommon. kabul has been relatively safe over the last several years. then there is a spectacular attack like this which makes everybody say, well, taliban can do this. they operate more or less at will when they do this. >> you're saying this is status quo. this is how it's always been? >> i don't think this is -- they've done these things before. it's embarrassing when we are talking about transferring control to the afghan government. that is the point they are trying to make. that is something they have a vote in. >> thisdo comes at a time when e u.s. admitted to being in talks with the taliban. is this a clear sign the taliban is not committed to peace in

afghanistan? >> this is a little bit of a signal that talks are going to take a while. >> okay. how much pressure is this going to put on nato to get more involved? >> nato made its decision. most important member of nato which is the united states has said we are going to start drawing down. the likelihood of nato getting more involved is quite unlikely. perhaps maybe a different way to look at it is this handover to afghan security forces, let's see how they handle this hotel intercontinental incident. they may be handling it well with some nato support. this is in the capital. if they are showing to behave in a competent way as a result of this -- >> incompetent? >> yes, incompetent. that would be nato's plan saying we are planning to hand over responsibility for a number of other cities over the next weeks

and months. is that necessarily wise? so far as i can tell from the picture, the afghan security services, they seem to be clearing the floors of this building and operating in a somewhat competent manner. >> disturbing news. thanks, peter. peter bergen. this just in. the president will hold a news conference tomorrow in the east room of the white house at 11:30 tomorrow morning. cnn will carry it live. just ahead tonight, we will hear from senator john mccain on the u.s. military's role in libya and the debate over whether that activity falls under the war powers act. violence breaks out on the streets of athens as greece prepares to impose drastic economic austerity measures. mal] this...is the network -- a network of possibilities. in here, the planned combination of at&t and t-mobile would deliver our next generation mobile broadband experience to 55 million more americans, many in small towns and rural communities,

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late this afternoon the senate foreign relations committee passed a joint resolution supporting limited use of u.s. military force against libya for one year. earlier in the day, the administration told the committee the war powers act does not apply to u.s. military activity in libya. that america's role in the mission is too limited in scope to fall under the law.

that argument did not sit well with many republicans who maintain the war powers act does require president obama to seek congressional approval within 60 days of deploying forces or end military action 30 days later. that 90-day period expired last week. >> in this case, president obama made a deliberate decision not to seek a congressional authorization of his action before he commenced or during the last three months. this was a fundamental failure of leadership that placed expedience above constitutional responsibility. >> we are joined with john mccain who was one of the sponsors expressing report. we heard your colleague dick luger say the president placed experience above constitutional responsibility in the case of libya. is that fair? >> i think to a certain degree

it's fair, but it is what it is. it's clear that we are engaged in hostilities. i wish the president had come much earlier to congress, not only for approval, but in consultation. the fact is we cannot afford to have moammar gadhafi survive. we have to make sure that we continue this effort. i would like to have seen, obviously, more u.s. air essence. it's the end of nato, a new terrorist threat we face as well as crimes against his own people. the foreign relations committee passed the resolution that senator kerry and i put forward. we hope to debate it and pass it on the floor and senate as soon as possible. >> you clearly are expecting this will advance and pass the senate. clearly, the larger republican

party, the presidential candidates in your party are taking a much more isolationist view. their tone on the presidential campaign trail is somewhat different from the tone you're striking. take a listen to some of what we are hearing. i'll ask you to react to it. >> when you create a no owe fly zone and you're into that extent, that's an expense, that's a risk. if we are going to go that far, is it in our national security interest? >> what possible vital american interest could we have to empower al qaeda of north africa and libya? the president was absolutely wrong in his decision. >> i wouldn't start a war in libya. i'd quit bombing yemen and quit bombing pakistan. >> that was john huntsman, michele bachmann and ron paul. today tim pawlenty said, "parts of the republican party now seem to be trying to outbid the democrats in appealing to isolationist sentiments." do you agree? >> yes, i do.

i think there's been a tension with the republican party. one of my responses among many about our involvement in libya is after rwanda we said never again. gadhafi's forces were at the city of 700,000 people and he promised he would go house to house and kill anybody he thought opposed him. that's why, one of the reasons why we intervened. not to mention the blood of 90 some americans as a result of bombing of 103. the fact he has been involved in acts of terror and if he survived, he would again. that and other reasons clearly indicate it is in the united states' national security interest. i think we could have gone in earlier. we could have gone in harder. we could have made sure he was out of power earlier. >> what do you attribute it to? do you think it's pandering to political base? >> i think there is an

isolationist wing of our party. i understand the war-weariness of the american people. i understand the economic issues are very important. the expenditure of tax dollars. the transitional national council of libya said they will reimburse us for our expenses incurred in assisting them. i understand that there is a segment of american, a big segment that says stay out of everything. i understand that. as secretary gates said, if you want to retreat to fortress america, you have to pay a very heavy price because they'll follow us home. >> we've been talking about libya. i'm sure you heard the late news out of gun began. in kabul there is an attack on the intercontinental hotel. do you think the administration is doing the right thing scaling back troops in afghanistan? >> i think it increases the risk dramatically.

i hope that i am wrong and that everything will work out all right. i think it's important to recognize there is no recommendation by any military commander to take this being a as there was no recommendation in 2009 to declare that there would be troops beginning to leave in 2011. >> turning to domestic politics. today sarah palin is taking a trip to iowa and it generated a lot of buzz about her potential presidential ambitions. her daughter bristol palin said her mom definitely made a decision. what do you think it's going to be? has she sought your advice? >> she has not sought my advice on this issue. i think if she runs, she will be a formidable candidate. i'm staying out of the primaries. i think it's only appropriate for me to do so. i think she would add a great deal to the competition. >> do you think she'll run? >> i honestly don't know. >> do you think she is playing around with the media and the political world?

>> never. would any politician ever do such a thing? any politician? >> that's unheard of. right. tea party express chairwoman amy cramer talking about another candidate in the field, michele bachmann, predicted michele bachmann will be palinized in this campaign, suggesting the media will tear her apart. do you share that concern? do you think that is a fair assessment of what media does to women in these races? >> i don't know and probably shouldn't say. i'm still saddened by the attacks made on sarah palin and her family. it's been like nothing i've ever seen. i can understand why michele bachmann would think that could happen to her. it is what it i. we are all big men and women and we should be prepared to take what comes. >> senator mccain, thank you so much for your time. >> thanks for having me on. >> just ahead, weep update you

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welcome back. if you're just joining us, here is the latest news you need to know now. taliban gunmen stormed the intercontinental hotel in kabul a few hours ago. the afghan interior ministry said all the attackers have been killed. at this hour, the hotel is on fire.

international monetary fund has chosen a new managing director. she is christine lagarde, finance minister of france. >> pope benedict xvi has joined the world of twitter. today he sent out his first tweet announcing the launch of a new vatican website. up next, thousands of protestors in greece angry about severe economic austerity measures clashed with riot police. our reporter and crew got caught in the middle of the melee. >> as you can see there is quite a lot of fighting going on between protestors. it's kicking off around that corner. here at quicken loans,

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clashes outside the parliament building in athens, greece, today between riot police and thousands of angry demonstrators with greece on the brink of economic collapse, they were protesting severe belt-tightening measures that will impose tax increases and spending cuts which will lead to job losses. greek law makers are set to vote on the austerity package tomorrow. dina, i know they are rough conditions for you. thank you for being with us. i want to ask if the greek

parliament does not pass the austerity measures, then what? >> reporter: well, as far as the protestors go, that will be a victory for them. as far as europe and possibly the health of the global financial world goes, it could look dicey. there is this fear of contagen in ripple countries of europe, portugal, spain, italy. investors wouldn't be able to pay their debt. what the protestors don't realize is the possibility of bankruptcy here in greece which is basically what's on the cards because if the austerity package doesn't get voted through, the imf says they couldn't give greece the money they need. people could feel austerity they haven't felt even to this point. salaries wouldn't be paid. there would be a run on the banks. the consequences of this really

are staggering and probably far worse on that road, if you travel down there for the greek people, then it does actually pass this vote on wednesday in parliament. >> there is a lot of anxiety there. desperation on the streets. would you describe for us a little bit of what you're going through? i know the media is being targeted right now. you and your camera crew got caught up in some violence today. >> reporter: we did. it's interesting. i was here this time a year ago when the first austerity bailout was pushed through. there were similar demonstrations, similar strikes, but camera crews weren't specifically targeted. this time around we have been. protestors have these green laser pens which they have been using pointing at all the camera crews around the square and there are many. also on the streets. a lot of crews have been targeted by protestors. today we were running away from a cloud of tear gas and some man

came up to my cameraman, punched him in the face, picked him down on the floor, tried to break his camera. luckily both survived intact. it's indicative of the fact protestors feel that the press has cast them in a negative light international over the past year as the scapegoat of europe that couldn't pay back its debt so now everyone else is suffering. they don't like to be cast in that light. >> we were speaking earlier and you feel the sting of the tear gas there. thank you for reporting to us through this. diana magnay, thank you for that report. now richard quest. deutsche says the domino effect could eclipse that of lehman brothers here in the u.s. how realistic is that? >> reporter: i think you've got to look at what ackerman was

saying. he wasn't saying that greece in itself is so big or important that it would cause the effect. what he is suggesting if greece goes then the question becomes who is next? who else is weak? where is the counterpart you risk throughout the financial system? yes, we had a year to work out who has the greek debt. we know it's french banks. we know it's german banks. they issued paper in the u.s. market. so we've got a pretty good idea the depth and integrity of the greek debt. what we don't know are the derivatives, credit default swaps, what happens if portugal goes or ireland or spain. when lehman went, it was the shock and surprise that caused the damage. people were looking over their shoulder saying who is next and who is good on their debts? >> on the campaign trail here in

the u.s., you hear candidates say greece is in trouble because of its debt. we could soon follow greece's footsteps. what lessons, if any, does the greek crisis hold for the u.s.? >> it's not just the level of debt that's important. let's get that straight out of the way. it's the exchange rate. interest rate. it's the competitiveness. the u.s. is extremely a competitive environment. this place has been living on borrowed money and not making their own ends meet. i think what they are talking about is the old phrase, it's time to pay the piper. what the u.s. is learning you can only raise the debt ceiling long and hard enough before the markets say what's your plan to cut borrowing? we know it is not going to happen now.

have you got a plan? of course when you get the posturing between the republicans and democrats that you've got at the moment, literally playing with fire with the debt ceiling, that's one of these stun grenades going off here. you haven't got that in other places. the warning signs are very clear. when you have high budget deficits, there has to be a plan to reduce them. what the u.s. at the moment doesn't have is that plan. >> very different scenarios. the comparison is clear. is there any end in sight? >> yes. very different but the same solitary warning. you have to deal with the problems when they arise. what's happened in the u.s. has crystallized. over to the right there is a greek parliament that at this hour is debating austerity cuts. they know if they don't vote for

those cuts, the eu and imf could cut them off, the country could default and it could be bedlam and chaos, disorderly markets. how different is that to a republican and democratic negotiating with the president, congress and the white house with a debt ceiling that's just about at the very roof of where it's going? viewers will say richard, it's a world of difference. in either case, the spector of default hangs large and looms big. that is the message that comes from places like greece. >> stay safe, richard. thank you for reporting. up next, sarah palin's not a presidential candidate but she is in iowa tonight. stealing the limelight from the declared gop candidates. michele bachmann hammering home one of her campaign themes. [ female announcer ] imagine skin so healthy, it never gets dry again.

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sarah palin is in iowa tonight to attend a movie premiere. the film is called "the undefeated" and offers a positive portrait of her life and career. joe johns is in iowa tonight. joe, give us a sense of what the scenes are like at that premiere.

i bet it's a zoo. >> reporter: yeah, well, sarah palin came here to the pella opera house accompanied by her husband, signed a few autographs. pretty good size crowd, sort of a movie premiere in pella, iowa, if you can imagine that. came inside. inside organ music, very patriotic scene at first. then they started this film. it was not an overly enthusiastic crowd, i can tell you. it's not clear who all the people were and how they got tickets. for example, the woman sitting in front of me said she worked in the mayor's office and had a role in putting all of this together. it's what you would imagine in iowa this time of year. a movie premiere doesn't happen much and certainly doesn't happen with sarah palin. >> i haven't seen this movie. there's been big buildup. did you get to see any of the movie? >> reporter: i did. i got to see a part of it, then

i had to come out and be on tv. quick version is it's not going to change any minds among the people who are haters or whatever. people who don't like sarah palin aren't going to start liking her once they see the movie. however, it seems like a pretty effective tool to lay out her narrative should she choose to run about her connection with social conservatives and her reasons for running. one example, the "exxon valdez" is the thing that got her into politics. >> i have a feeling we'll hear a lot more about the movie in the days and weeks to come. thank you so much, joe johns from iowa. sarah palin was not the only one in iowa today. president obama was there, as well. the race for the white house is on. where do the candidates and noncandidates stand thus far? chip saltsman former presidential campaign manager for mike huckabee and jennifer

palmieri. what kind of message do you think sarah palin is sending to iowa voters by debuting her movie in their state? >> the first message is i'm relevant, i'm in the game. i want to be part of the conversation. you take her being in pella, iowa, today in a red carpet treatment and what she did in new hampshire with mitt romney's announcement. she is going to be part of this conversation and interject herself and the media will cover it because they can't help themselves. the biggest message is sarah palin wants to be part of the 2012 conversation and she is. >> that's different from running, right? do you think she is going to run? big part of the conversation is a different thing. >> i think that's right. i don't think she will run.

most people are doing door-to-door and she has a red carpet premiere in pella. maybe we did it wrong four years ago. >> it's clear the media can't help themselves. >> nor should we. she shows up somewhere, it's news. why shouldn't we cover it? >> i'm very iowa to show up with a movie premiere. it's not what they are looking for. >> it's a movie about her. >> it's very sarah palin. >> there is someone else making a trip to iowa today. it's president obama. let me ask you, first of all, let's listen to what he had to say on his trip today.

>> i know you've been seeing a lot of politicians around lately. you may see a few more before this is over. iowa, you and i go a ways back. those from the illinois side, we go even longer back. together we'll make more history for years to come. >> his victory in iowa was the spring board to his nomination. what will be his message to win next year if he is going to how the republicans will saturate it up to then? >> there is a proxy war helping now. ads hitting obama and the economy. tomorrow a group is coming up with ads on the economy.

if the obama re-election was a referendum on the economy, that would be a big problem. it's going to be a choice. the point they are trying to make is this choice is between obama who is saying the middle class is seeing economic growth and the republican candidates who support the ryan plan. people are so focused on michele bachmann and mitt romney. mitt romney said woe sign the ryan plan into law. >> he wants it to be a choice. >> it is a referendum on -- if it's a referendum on the economy, it's a problem for him. >> i think both. >> the re-election about the president will be about him, about the economy and what he's done over the last four years. if you look at four years ago, unemployment is up. gas prices up, prosperity is down. obama has to defend that. he's going to have a hard time. that's yes is iowa today.

>> not if the democrats can help it. they'll try to make this campaign about the republicans and not the president's record. >> it is about a choice. >> in the mid terms when he said things would have been worse had i not -- he wasn't on the ballot. >> gloria, let me ask you about the candidate surging right now -- >> today. >> i know. michele bachmann. she just held her first event in south carolina. she says she plans to compete everywhere in every state. listen to this. >> we want to win south carolina. we want to win new hampshire. we want to win iowa. we want to win hawaii. and we think there is a certain hawaiian resident that maybe should go back to hawaii. should we help him fill out his

change of address form today? >> was she just admitting he was born in this country? >> she is trying to clean up the record on that. that was intentional. >> i think so. >> she is walking back. he was anti-american, now he is patriotic, he is a hawaiian resident. >> do you think democrats would view a bachmann nomination as a secret gift? >> yeah. i think they would. the thing about michele bachmann we've seen in these first few days on the campaign trail, she is undisciplined. she has said a lot of things and misspoken. she has to take them back. her record is thinner than a lot of people thought. republicans say the problem with barack obama is he didn't have enough experience to be president, running a candidate with not a lot of experience is

probably a problem for the republican talking points, i would think. >> bachmann's former chief of staff ron carey wrote an op-ed in "the des moines register" criticizing his former boss. he said having seen the two upclose and over a long period of time, it is clear while tim pawlenty possess es the judgmen, demeanor and readiness to serve as president, michele bachmann decidedly does not." is iowa a race between bachmann and pawlenty at this point? >> i think bachmann is surging in iowa. she fits iowa really well. pawlenty is having a hard time getting started there. ron is a good guy. he endorsed pawlenty. i put this more in the guy he supports. i would take this message to the democrats. be careful what you wish for. we wished for bill clinton to be

the democratic nominee in '90 and '92 and he cleaned our clocks. michele bachmann is smart. she talks directly to the people and can inspire a big base out the there. independents are likely to vote for her. >> thank you all for being with us tonight. we'll continue this conversation for some time to come. conversan for quite some time to come. and you won't want to miss the end of this show, we have good news to break. stay tuned find out just why john king is not here tonight. s] ♪ [ cat meows ]

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severe flooding in the middle of the country has raised concerns about the power plant in nebraska. the plant is surrounded by as much as two feet of water from the swollen missouri river. officials say the flooding has not breached key buildings at the complex and they're quick to say the situation has no comparison to the flooding this spring at the devastate d fukushima daiichi plant in japan. what is being done right now to protect this nuclear power plant? >> jessica, they put up several barriers at some of the key buildings, specifically the buildings housing the reactor core and spent fuel rods. they put up levees and sand berms. they also put up aqua berms around the buildings, part of the problem, one of the aqua berms was punctured a couple days ago, that let in more

floodwater. the system is not foolproof. the puncture of the aqua berm exposed some weaknesses in their system and they had to scramble to contain that. no real leakage of any substance has gotten into those key buildings, but they're monitoring it very closely. >> the plant has had safety issues in the not too distant past, hasn't it? >> it has. an electrical fire knocked out of the some cooling system for some of the spent fuel storage pools here, and the -- they had to go to a backup system for about 90 minutes, the water didn't get to a boiling point before the backup systems kicked in. they were able to head off that situation, it's more of an ongoing thing as well. two years ago the facility was cited for not being adequately prepared for just such an emergency like this one. they've upgraded their

safeguards since then. federal officials were pleased when they came through here monday and saw how they were handling it. >> thank you, brian. let's get some perspective now on the safety of nuclear power plants in the u.s. look at some possible worst case scenarios. we're joined by arnie gunderson. the nuclear regulatory commission says the situation at ft. calhoun is under control, that this will not be a repeat of what we saw in japan. in your view, case closed? >> sandbags and nuclear power shouldn't be put in the same sentence, but it is a lot better than fukushima. the real reason why is, they were shut down in april and their management decided not to start them back up. nuclear atoms split, and these split pieces give off a lot of heat. after two months there's not anywhere near as much heat. so to compare it to fukushima is

wrong. it's a real problem, but it's not a fukushima level problem at all. >> we're looking at pictures right now, i don't know if you can see them. but when you take a look, are you already concerned about the emergency pumps possibly flooding? they're covered in water. what happens after that? >> i think the focus has been on those two big buildings. really it's not those buildings i'm kenned about. there's a little building out by the water and it's called the intake structure. in there is an emergency service water pump. that's the pump that cools the nuclear fuel. so it's important that that building not flood any more because if the emergency service pumps get flooded they won't be able to cool that nuclear reactor. >> ft. calhoun as you point out, it's been shut down since april. then there's cooper nuclear plant which is about 90 miles south of ft. calhoun, it's a

different story. why are you more concerned about cooper? >> well, cooper's still running, and again, those pieces, if cooper were to shut down now, the heat produced would be 100 times more than the heat at ft. calhoun, a lot more heat to get rid of. now, it's also the identical reactor to fukushima. it's a boiling water reactor. if i were the management of cooper, i would really think about shutting down so that you get ahead of the problem, so there's less of those decayed products to generate heat. >> do you have any immediate concern for the people who are living nearby? >> you know, short of an upstream dam failure, i think they'll ride this one out. if an upstream dam were to fail, all bets are off. i think the key is to keep an eye on the upstream dams. >> if you were consulting a team at ft. calhoun and cooper right

now, what advice would you give them. >> ft. calhoun got taken to the wood shed 18 months ago. right now with the modifications they've made and being shut down for two months, i don't really think they can do much more except wait and hope the water doesn't get high. down at cooper, though, my advice would be to shut down now and ride it out. >> all right. arnie gunderson, thank you so much. let's hope all goes well there and continues as it has. >> thanks for having me. before we leave tonight we have some breaking news in the cnn family. some good breaking news. john king and dana bash welcomed a son into the world today. the family is happy and healthy and we'll have you note that the newest addition for